Sunrise Plots Ways To Lure New Areas

February 9, 1986|By Gary Enos, Staff Writer

SUNRISE — Pleased over the demise of a proposal for Davie to annex Bonaventure and Weston, city officials are beginning to consider how to entice the unincorporated communities into Sunrise voluntarily.

City Council members will discuss Bonaventure and Weston in a workshop meeting at 5:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall.

Council member Mike Stern placed the item on the agenda before state Sen. Ken Jenne, D-Hollywood, announced he will withdraw his proposal to have Davie take over the unincorporated areas.

What would have been a strategy session on how to oppose the Broward Legislative Delegation`s annexation plan has now become an opportunity to discuss the city`s own annexation possibilities, Stern said.

``Instead of focusing on the annexation proposal, we`ll look a little farther down the road . . . to see how we can best sell the city of Sunrise to Bonaventure and Weston,`` Stern said.

Stern had originally wanted to unite city officials in opposition to the delegation`s proposal, since many Sunrise officials had been expressing their opinions individually.

``I was afraid that with this singular approach, we were losing something,`` Stern said.

Sunrise officials have had their eyes on the 1,250-acre Bonaventure development, just south of State Road 84, for several years, and in 1983, the council approved a resolution to annex portions of Bonaventure.

But the city`s annexation attempts were struck down in the courts on three separate occasions, most recently last November.

Now, city officials are talking about convincing Bonaventure residents and the developers of Weston that Sunrise is the ideal place for them to go.

``People don`t want to be told that they have to do something. Sunrise should be the logical choice for them,`` Stern said.

Mayor Larry Hoffman said on Thursday that the city would not annex Bonaventure unless residents there agreed to the move.

He also questioned criticism of the city`s previous annexation attempts, saying that Davie has embarked on a much more ambitious annexation program.

``Davie has annexed more than any other Broward city in the last 10 to 15 years. The city of Sunrise is not the villain out here,`` Hoffman said.

Despite Jenne`s decision to drop the proposal concerning Davie, Hoffman says he will still attend a public hearing on the delegation plan at 2 p.m. Thursday at Broward Community College`s Omni Auditorium in Coconut Creek.

Hoffman says he is opposed to the delegation`s overall plan because it is pitting one city against another for the most attractive unincorporated areas.

Sunrise officials think they can provide essential services to both Weston, which is expected to have 60,000 residents by 2010, and Bonaventure.

Both developments are receiving water and sewer service from Sunrise.

Also, Sunrise police patrolled the Bonaventure area last summer before they were replaced with a private security firm.